<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Albatross by byeb</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29037393">Albatross</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/byeb/pseuds/byeb'>byeb</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Blood and Injury, Emotional Manipulation, Evil Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Gaslighting, Hurt No Comfort, Hybrid TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Major Character Injury, Swearing, Violence, Winged TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:00:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,800</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29037393</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/byeb/pseuds/byeb</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes for sport the men of loafing crews<br/>Snare the great albatrosses of the deep,<br/>The indolent companions of their cruise<br/>As through the bitter vastitudes they sweep. </p>
<p>Scarce have they fished aboard these airy kings<br/>When helpless on such unaccustomed floors,<br/>They piteously droop their huge white wings<br/>And trail them at their sides like drifting oars. </p>
<p>How comical, how ugly, and how meek<br/>Appears this soarer of celestial snows!<br/>One, with his pipe, teases the golden beak,<br/>One, limping, mocks the cripple as he goes. </p>
<p>The Poet, like this monarch of the clouds,<br/>Despising archers, rides the storm elate.<br/>But, stranded on the earth to jeering crowds,<br/>The great wings of the giant baulk his gait. </p>
<p>— Roy Campbell (translator), Poems of Baudelaire</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Albatross</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>content warning: this fic includes graphic descriptions of injury and instances of abuse/gaslighting.</p>
<p>if this makes you uncomfortable, feel free to leave at any time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>with that, enjoy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tommy cursed audibly as a hand locked firmly around his ankle, pulling him along jagged rocks as he was dragged to the edge of a smoldering pit. Logstedshire was gone, and in its place lay  a twisted landscape. Lush trees that had once surrounded his land were now lumps of coal that stuck out of the ground at odd angles. The beach was covered in rubble. His home was gone. How had he ended up on the ground? Had he fallen in shock? He didn't know, and it didn't matter.</p>
<p> Splinters from the explosion dug into his skin, scraping at him through ragged clothes. His feathers left a dark brown trail as they were yanked out by the tough earth and gnarled roots, dull pain coming in waves as each was tugged. He could see the corpse of his mooshroom friend in the distance, slaughtered without a care, though he knew better. Dream always thought about consequences. Everything was precise and intentional. Tommy looked upon the deceased cow. Its head was gone, but where? Tommy didn’t know. He wanted to vomit. The cow had given him so much company, and for it to have left him in such a brutal fashion hurt. If only this man who acted more like a monster had more mercy, he could join his friend. </p>
<p>He let out a sob as he took in his surroundings. Wrong move.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Are you seriously crying? Oh, come on Tommy!" The masked man spat. "Take a look around. This is your fault. Maybe if you didn't hide things from your <em> friend </em> , your home wouldn't get blown up! Maybe, if you stopped trying to <em> leave </em>,  you wouldn't be in this situation!"</p>
<p>Tommy clawed at the ground, desperately trying to pull himself away from his nightmare. It wasn't a very viable option, but it was all he had. His wings beat at the air uselessly, but the man was too far out of range to even be hit by them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Was that all you had? I suggest answering truthfully, or I’ll throw you in the pit along with some more TNT.”</p>
<p>Tommy whimpered, "No! No, I swear, there’s nothing else, I wasn't trying to hide anything- Please, you have to believe me! I won't do it again!" </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"You'd think that the so-called big man would be less pathetic! But poor little TommyInnit, with his <em> widdle, itty-bitty </em> wings, is stuck on the ground! Just like the rest of us!" Dream mocked.</p>
<p>"D-dream, please! I'm sorry! I'm sor-" The man’s boot slammed roughly into the junction where Tommy’s back met his wings, cutting him off with a choke. The monster in human skin had let go of his ankle, but he found that kicking back at him was not a solution to his problem.</p>
<p>The boot slammed into his back again. “Stop squirming, or this is going to be a hundred times worse, <em> birdie </em>."</p>
<p>Tommy cried out, head spinning. "Dream- I'm sorry, please let me go."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Mm… no... I think that if you're going to be stuck on the ground, it might as well be permanent, no?" Dream sneered, hand fisting in the boy’s dark feathers. He gave them a sharp tug, and Tommy let out a hiss of pain. He turned his head slightly to look at the man above him, eyes catching on the sharp diamond axe that hung from his waist. The edge glinted menacingly in the dulling sunlight.</p>
<p>The winged child froze, eyes widening in realization. His struggling intensified. It soon became a deeply panicked writhing that did little more than to drive him further into the burnt earth beneath him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Dream- No- Please! Please, don't take my wings!" The boy begged. The wing that wasn’t being held was flapping around wildly in an attempt at escape.</p>
<p>He cried out as Dream tightened his grip, "Why not? Give me one reason. You keep lying to me! Betraying me! I was only ever trying to help, Tommy. Only ever trying to help.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Dream, please- they're all I have! Don't take them from me!" Tommy sobbed, “Please, please. Please don’t.”</p>
<p>There’s a pause, the wind blowing softly through the plains. Dream coos softly, “Of course Tommy.”</p>
<p>He began petting the ruffled feathers down, "They're all you have left… of course…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, Tommy, I’m so sorry.  I couldn't, heh, <em> dream </em> of taking them from you if they mean that much."</p>
<p>"T-thank you-" The hands moved upwards, coming to rest on bone instead. Tommy stiffens. Something’s wrong, Dream spoke exactly like that before… well, before anything went to shit.</p>
<p>He was laughing, little snickers developing into howls.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"That's why I'll be breaking them instead! Oh little Albatross, how funny it would be. King of the sea's sky, never to fly. It suits you perfectly!" He cackled, grabbing onto the other end of the wing with his empty hand, "Ready, birdie? <em> One!"</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>"No, wait! Please!"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"<em>TWO! </em>"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"DREAM!"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"<em>THREE! </em>"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A loud crack echoes across the decimated landscape. As Dream snapped the bone into splinters, Tommy screamed louder than he had ever before. It almost drowned out the sickening noise, but the blond would forever hear it in his head. Small patches of feathers were missing. He supposed that Dream had ripped them out. Tommy’s wing was tossed to the side soon after, and the boot that remained between the wings was pressed down even harder. Tommy felt like he was being buried into the earth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"That's the first wing! Now, the next!" The mask smiled, an unrelenting facade of joy. In present context, it almost seemed to mock him. The broken wing sat crooked now, feathers flared out oddly and bent at an angle that seemed to cry out to the high heavens.</p>
<p>"N-no…" Tommy blubbered weakly. Pain radiated throughout his body, and he felt like he was going to vomit.</p>
<p>"I'm just trying to help you, c’mon. Don't worry. You don't want to be lopsided, y'know? I'll make this one faster, promise," he said, grasping the ulna of the other wing with both hands.</p>
<p>“DREAM-”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dream snaps it in half. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tommy shrieks, the pain making his head spin. He feels sick. How could the masked man do this? Wasn’t he his friend?</p>
<p>Blood dripped down his feathers slowly. His wing looked like it had been twisted.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, whoops, must’ve broken a blood feather. You know how to treat that, I bet!”</p>
<p>Tommy laid motionlessly on the ground, shudders wracking his body. The environment around him was decimated. Everything was gone; the forest had even begun to catch fire. He couldn’t breathe without tasting smoke and iron. He could hear Dream laughing, though it was deafened by the rush in his ears. The realization of the break was finally hitting him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"There ya go! Now you're truly useless. Can't do anything without your wings, huh? God, I hope someone finds some pity for you," Dream chuckled, nudging the boy in the ribs, “I mean, I doubt anyone will. Not even Tubbo wants to see you, and he was your best friend, right? Such a tragedy.”</p>
<p>Tommy sniffled weakly, fingers curling and uncurling in the grass that lay underneath him. He didn't even acknowledge the man that stood above him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I'll see you tomorrow. Try not to die tonight, yeah?" Dream gave him a taunting wave before leaving towards the portal. The blond could barely lift his head from the ground to see though, twitching like a crushed bug. Rivers of tears were running down his face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It hurt, so, <em> so much </em>.</p>
<p>The sun was setting, seemingly faster than ever, and Tommy was stuck on the ground with no protection or place to hide. Dream was gone, and he didn’t even have his communicator to beg him to come back and save him. Tommy truly didn’t believe he could see his friend- no, that monster, again. Not after this. He wanted to curl into a ball, but he could barely move without a cacophony of pain radiating out from his wings.</p>
<p>Tommy sobbed. sobbed for the cruelty he had faced, sobbed for the potential his life had had, the potential that had been snuffed out unfairly. Would he ever touch the skies again? Would he only feel the breeze between his fingers again in his dreams?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>No. He refused.</p>
<p>No. This wasn't going to be the end, not of TommyInnit. It didn’t matter if Logstedshire was blown to bits, like L’Manburg had once been. It didn’t matter that all of his progress was gone, that his cow was gone. No, he would feel the breeze again. He would survive, and he would fly. </p>
<p>Just because everything was gone didn’t mean it was over yet. Even if his wings dragged useless behind him for a long time. Even if he couldn’t walk right because they had no support and constantly brought him pain.</p>
<p>He could leave. He didn’t have to stay. Who knows if- no, when Dream would really take his wings? Tommy wasn’t going to find out.</p>
<p>Yes, yes. He was going to get out of here. Now.</p>
<p>Get up, Tommy told himself.</p>
<p>A dead albatross was a sign of bad luck for on a voyage, someone had once said. The port district of L’Manberg had met many unsavory characters, and Tommy had only once made the mistake of venturing deep enough to find nothing but unfamiliar faces. The man’s eyes had seemed absurdly sunken in the hollow light of the lantern in the doorway, and he had leered down at Tommy in a way that made him feel distinctly, obnoxiously unsafe. “Them things… they ain’t nothin’ but bad luck,” the sailor had slurred. “Don’t go hangin’ yerself around no man’s neck anytime soon.”</p>
<p>“Whatever, old man. That’s just some sailor superstition. I’m not going to live my life around your stupid stories,” he had replied.</p>
<p>He wouldn’t let someone else decide, no. He was done doing that.</p>
<p>He would treat his wings first. He couldn’t bleed out now. Giving up his life, his <em> final </em> life, so simply would honestly be a fucking affront to everything he’d managed to get through so far. If he died, and Wilbur somehow found out it’d been from something entirely preventable, he would <em> never </em> hear the end of it. Yeah. He could already hear Wilbur’s nasally voice in his ear, and god was that enough to make him regret thinking about giving up.</p>
<p>Tommy knew for a fact he had at least one roll of bandages that Dream hadn’t burned. Logstedshire was still a smouldering pit, but at least the small brush fires ringing the destruction would keep away mobs. </p>
<p>The earth was burnt; drained of life, beaten and barren. This place could offer him nothing more. </p>
<p>Still, he thinks, as he winds a strip of thick cotton around a wound still sluggishly bleeding, </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s hardly all he has left.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>fly high angel, smh.</p>
<p>thank you to the lovely mio for beta'ing this! you rock.<br/>you can find him here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alethephobia (he'll be posting some fics soon too :) )</p>
<p>and thanks to all of you for reading this! I hope you enjoyed.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>